Poverty line
The estimated minimum level of income needed to secure the necessities of life.
Reasons for pressures on water resources (8)
- Population Growth- Pollution- Domestic Demand- Tourism and Recreation- Energy Production- Climate Change- Geo-political mismanagement- Embedded water
Domestic Demand
Demand for products or services within a domestic economy
Embedded water
Water used during the process of manufacturing. Other word for virtual water.
Extreme poverty
Living on less than $1.25 a day
Carrying capacity
The number of people that can be supported by a given ecosystem, given their consumption of natural resources and use of technology.
Environmental carrying capacity
The maximum number before the local environment becomes damaged
Perceptual carrying capacity
The maximum number before a specific group of visitors considers the level of impact, such as noise, to be excessive
Reserves
Resources that are accessible and usable.
Ecological deficit
Ecological footprint > regional biocapacity
Ecological reserve
Ecological footprint < regional biocapacity
Resources
Anything useful to humans such as soil, oil, water and minerals.
Resource availability
Amount and type of resources required for a community
Resource consumption
The process of using natural resources, materials, or finished products to satisfy human wants or needs.
Resource Substitution
The ability of resources to substitute for one another in producing goods and services
Acid rain
Rain containing acids that form in the atmosphere when industrial gas emissions (especially sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) combine with water.
Transboundary pollution
Pollution that starts in one country and crosses boundaries into other countries (ex. Acid rain going from China to woods of Canada)
Dry deposition
Fine particulate matter and aerosols settling from the atmosphere onto lake and land surfaces during periods with no precipitation.
Wet deposition
A form of acid deposition in which acid falls to Earth as precipitation.
Arable land
Land used for growing crops
Energy security
Access to clean, reliable and affordable energy sources for cooking, heating, lighting, communication and productive uses.
Energy insecurity
A lack of access to energy, either due to affordability or availability.
Energy dependency
The level of energy imports as a proportion of total energy consumption.The higher the proportion of energy imports, the more energy dependent the country is on others
Energy independence
Idea of meeting all of one's energy needs without importing any energy
Peak oil production
The year in which the world or an individual oil-producing country reaches its highest level of production, with production decreasing thereafter.
Landfills
The disposal of waste in large pits
Leachates
Liquids created when water mixes with wastes and removes soluble constituents from them by percolation
E-waste
Discarded electronic equipment such as computers, cell phones, television sets, etc.
Optimum population
The number of people who, when working with all the available resources, will produce the highest per capita economic returns.
Overpopulation
The number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living.
Underpopulation
Circumstances of too few people to sufficiently develop the resources of a country or region to improve the level of living of its inhabitants.
Renewable resource
A natural resource that can be replaced at the same rate at which the resource is consumed. (ex. Wind or Solar)
Biofuels
Fuels, such as ethanol or methanol, that are created from the fermentation of plants or plant products.
Biomass energy
Renewable energy derived from burning organic materials such as wood and alcohol
Disadvantages of biofuels
- Competition for cropland- Could raise food prices
Advantages of biofuels
- Better gas mileage - No net CO2 increase - Make use of agriculture timber and urban waste- Potentially renewable
Non-renewable resource
A resource or raw material that cannot be grown or replaced once used. (ex. Oil)
Fossil Fuels (Hydrocarbons)
Fuels that have been created over millions of years from decaying biological matter. Examples include oil, gas, coal and tar sands.
Advantages of fossil fuels
Cheap, efficient and easy to get
Disadvantages of fossil fuels
Limited supply, pollution and contribution to climate change
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
An international economic organisation whose 14 member countries all produce and export oil. The cartel's members include (Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE). They account for 44% of global oil production.
Fracking
The process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc., so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas.
Alternative energy sources
Source of energy other than the burning of a fossil fuel.
Peak oil
The point at which global oil extraction is maximized.
Biocapacity
An area of land or ecosystems ability to produce biological materials used by people and to absorb waste material generated by humans, under current management schemes and extraction technologies.
Global hectare (gha)
One global hectare is equivalent to one hectare of biologically productive space with world average productivity.
Ecological footprint
The hypothetical area of land required by a society, a group or an individual to fulfil all their resource needs and assimilate all their waste. It is measured in Global Hectares (gha).
Carbon footprint
Measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
Conservation
Ability to recognize that objects can be transformed in some way, visually or physically, yet still be the same in number, weight, substance, or volume.
Preservation
Maintenance of a resource in its present condition, with as little human impact as possible
Carbon offset schemes
Allowing the emission of carbon dioxide but minimising the impact by investing in projects that cut emissions elsewhere e.g. planting trees
Carbon emissions trading
Form of emissions trading that specifically targets carbon dioxide (calculated in tonnes of CO2e)
Food Security
The availability and access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet the dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. (FAO)
Recycling
Process of converting waste materials into new materials
Composting
Process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil, often as fertilizer.
Waste incineration
Solid waste is burned to boil water, which makes steam for heating water or space or for producing electricity
Water Security
Continuing access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Physical water scarcity
Lack of available water where water resource development is approaching or has exceeded unsustainable levels. It relates availability to demand and implies that arid areas are not necessarily water scarce.
Economic water scarcity
A lack of investment in water infrastructure or insufficient human capacity to satisfy the demand of water in areas where the population cannot afford to use an adequate source of water.
Water stress
The condition that occurs when people don't have enough clean fresh water to meet their everyday needs
Water footprint
Measures the amount of water used to produce the goods and services we use.
Direct water use
Water consumed by an end user
Indirect water use
Hidden uses of water that you may never have considered, cooling metal off after it is formed to make a can
Embedded water trade
Global trade in goods influenced by a country's available water resources. trading countries can rely on the water resources in other countries to meet the needs of their inhabitants.
Food security
A condition in which people have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
Undernourishment
Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical activity.
Food availability
The availability of sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis
Nexus
The interrelationship, interdependence and interactions between water, food and energy.
Sustainable development goals
An urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership, recognising that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth - all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
Nuclear power
Energy that is harnessed from reactions among radioactive isotopes
Advantages of nuclear energy (4)
- Nuclear energy does not produce air pollution- Can achieve independence from foreign oil- Huge supply- C02 emissions less than 10% that of coal
Disadvantages of nuclear energy (5)
- Building = Expensive- Byproducts could create nuclear weapon- Accidents lead to death/cancer- Waste dangerous for millions of years- Non-renewable
Malthusianism
The idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply is linear. Two types of "checks" that in all times and places kept population growth in line with the growth of the food supply: "preventive checks", such as moral restraints (abstinence, delayed marriage until finances become balanced), and restricting marriage against persons suffering poverty or perceived as defective, and "positive checks", which lead to premature death such as disease, starvation and war, resulting in what is called a Malthusian catastrophe.
Neo-Malthisian View
The advocacy of population control programs to ensure resources for current and future populations. Paul Ehrlich is a good example.
Anti-Malthusian
They believe we are not going to overpopulate and run out of resources and counteract neo-malthusians. People have the resources of knowledge and technology to increase food production and find solutions to resource scarcity. Esther Boserup is a good example.
Circular economy
A model in which resources remain in use for as long as possible, from which maximum value is extracted while in use, and the products and materials are recovered and regenerated at the end of the product life cycle.
Global Commons
The earth's unowned natural resources, such as the oceans, the atmosphere, Antartica and space.
Linear economy
An economy based on the make, use, dispose model.